TY - JOUR A1 - Scheer, Ulrich A1 - Trendelenburg, Michael F. A1 - Krohne, Georg A1 - Franke, Werner W. T1 - Lengths and patterns of transcriptional units in the amplified nucleoli of oocytes of Xenopus laevis N2 - Transcriptionally active chromatin from peripheral amplified nuc1eoli of lampbrush-chromosome stage oocytes of Xenopus laevis was dispersed and spread in various solutions of low salt concentrations (incIuding some with additions of detergents) and examined by electron microscopy. Nucleolar material from oocytes of animals with normal (2-nu) and mutant (I-nu) genetical constitution of nucleolus organizers was compared. Histograms showing the distributions of the lengths of matrix units, apparent spacer intercepts, and the total repeating units of the rDNA containing chromatin axes revealed a significant degree of heterogeneity, with indications of subclasses and predominant repeat unit size c1asses of 3.3 and 3.8 11m length. The correspondence of matrix unit length to the molecular weight of the first stable product of rDNA transcription was studied using gel electrophoresis of labelIed pre-rRNA under non-denaturing and denaturing conditions. Evaluations of individual strands of nucleolar chromatin furt her demonstrated the existence of both (i) strands with obviously homogeneous repeating units and (ii) strands with intra-axial heterogeneity of rDNA subunits. " Preludecomplexes ", i.e. groups of transcriptional complexes in apparent spacer intercepts, were not infrequently noted. The data are compared with the measurements of lengths of repeating units in fragments of rDNA obtained by digestion with EcoRI endonuclease as described by Morrow et al. (1974) and Wellauer et al. (1974, 1976a, b). The results are discussed in relation to problems of variations in the modes of arrangement of the pre-rRNA genes, the state of packing of rDNA during transcription, and possible mechanisms of the amplification process. Y1 - 1977 UR - https://opus.bibliothek.uni-wuerzburg.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/3105 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-33069 ER -